Conventionally, in copiers and the like employing a mirror-scanning method, there have been widely used image reading apparatuses that perform reading of a document by having the document placed on a contact glass fixed to a document placing table of a document reading portion, and moving (scanning) a carriage, which is provided below the contact glass and has a light source and a mirror mounted thereon, by means of a predetermined drive device, in a direction parallel to a surface to-be-copied of the document.
In such an image reading apparatus, after a document is set on the contact glass, reading of an image of the document is performed by holding the document in a shaded state by pressing it from above by means of a document pressing device. At this time, it is likely that the document is set with the document pressing device slightly lifted (that is, in a half-closed state). At this time, the document pressing device shades an area over the contact glass, making the document less visible to the user, and thus it is disadvantageously difficult for the user to set the document in a desired position.
As a method for easy recognition of a document selling position on the contact glass, Patent Literature 1 listed below, for example, discloses an image reading apparatus provided with a transparent or opaque document placing position indicating member that is disposed over a document placed on a contact glass, for helping to determine a position for placing the document. In the image reading apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1, various sheet-size frames are indicated on the document placing position indicating member by being printed thereon with a color to which a photosensitive member of a copier is not sensitive.